The Roots of Nazi Psychology: Hitler's Utopian Barbarism [Paperback]

Jay Y. Gonen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 19, 2003

" Was Hitler a moral aberration or a man of his people? This topic has been hotly argued in recent years, and now Jay Gonen brings new answers to the debate using a psychohistorical perspective, contending that Hitler reflected the psyche of many Germans of his time. Like any charismatic leader, Hitler was an expert scanner of the Zeitgeist. He possessed an uncanny ability to read the masses correctly and guide them with ""new"" ideas that were merely reflections of what the people already believed. Gonen argues that Hitler's notions grew from the general fabric of German culture in the years following World War I. Basing his work in the role of ideologies in group psychology, Gonen exposes the psychological underpinnings of Nazi Germany's desire to expand its living space and exterminate Jews. Hitler responded to the nation's group fantasy of renewing a Holy Roman Empire of the German nation. He presented the utopian ideal of one large state, where the nation represented one extended family. In reality, however, he desired the triumph of automatism and totalitarian practices that would preempt family autonomy and private action. Such a regimented state would become a war machine, designed to breed infantile soldiers brainwashed for sacrifice. To achieve that aim, he unleashed barbaric forces whose utopian features were the very aspects of the state that made it most cruel.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Adolf Hitler has always been and will continue to be a tempting subject for psychological analysis--even if, despite Peter Gay's classic Freud for Historians, psychohistory and psychobiography are still considered the black sheep of historical biography. Gonen (a retired professor of psychology at the University of Cincinnati and author of A Psychohistory of Zionism) offers a brief study and analysis of what he claims is a "Nazi psychology." Drawing from an extensive and rigorous reading of Hitler's speeches and published writings (especially Mein Kampf), Freudian theories and social, economic and cultural history, Gonen ponders whether Hitler was an aberration in German society or a "man of the people." (The German masses, he concludes, shared in Hitler's paranoia and delusions.) Chapters cover the role of ideology in shaping mass thinking, as well as anti-Semitism, lebensraum and the idea of the Volkish state--and contain fascinating passages on the image of the Jew, the role of women and the interrelatedness of kitsch and death in the Nazi mentality. Although Gonen doesn't really say anything new ("Hitler," he tells us, for example, "was a messianic paranoid"), what he offers is compellingly written and blessedly free of social science jargon. What is troubling, however, is that Gonen fails to explore concepts central to his inquiry, such as "utopia" and "barbarism," and that he contends that Nazism had its own "internal [or] inherent logic." Slightly flawed, this is still a good introduction to a difficult subject. (Apr..-- inherent logic." Slightly flawed, this is still a good introduction to a difficult subject. (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"Basing his work in the role of ideologies in group psychology, Gonen exposes the psychological underpinnings of Nazi Germany's desire to expand its living space and exterminate Jews." -- Bulletin of the Arnold and Leona Institute of Holocaust Research

"In the search to understand the genocidal mind, Gonen's book is a major step." -- Clio's Psyche

"His may be in perfect case study for those in Washington and London convinced that they are all that stands between the frail blossom of civilization and the icy breath of barbarism." -- H-Net Reviews

"Gonen makes a major contribution to understanding the destructive power of messianism, utopianism, apocalyptic ideology, and barbarism -- phenomena that, in addition to scapgoating, the civilizing process must master if there are to be no more holocausts." -- Journal of Psychohistory

"Traces the psychological currents flowing through the national character that allowed Hitler to promise German dominance and rebirth -- the public fantasy of renewing the Holy Roman Empire." -- McCormick (SC) Messenger

"Argues that German myth and history fostered 'shared group fantasies' of Jewish treachery." -- Newsweek

"A very serious inquiry into the many ideas -- some rational and intelligible, others illogical and crackpot -- that helped shape Hitler's weird ideology." -- NYMAS Newsletter

"Compellingly written and blessedly free of social science jargon." -- Publishers Weekly

"No amount of patient scholarly probing of Hitlerism can render this grim piece of political pathology intelligible without empathic insight into the deeper workings of mass psychology and the quasi magical force of Hitler's message of national danger, deliverance and death. Gonen brings just such insight to this task in The Roots of Nazi Psychology, which for all his modest disclaimers, will leave reader after reader with the sense of a mystery solved." -- Rudolph Binion

"A well-written, even brilliant psychohistorical analysis that will prompt a great deal of discussion." -- Saul Friedman

"Presents an interesting and insightful case that makes the popular support for Hitler and the National Socialists more intelligible.... This book deserves a broad audience." -- The Historian

"Nobody has succeeded as well as Gonen in proving by ideological analysis as well as by psychological and historical arguments that the logic of Hitler's world view would necessarily culminate in the Holocaust with all of its terrible consequences." -- Utopian Studies

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky; 2 Sub edition (May 19, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813190460
• ISBN-13: 978-0813190464
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,884,953 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Another great contribution in the fight against Nazism, October 4, 2006

By 

Stefan Isaksson "www.stefanisaksson.se" (Malmoe, Sweden) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Roots of Nazi Psychology: Hitler's Utopian Barbarism (Paperback)

Jay Y. Gonen, retired professor of psychology, has written the book The Roots of Nazi Psychology in order to try to answer the question whether or not Adolf Hitler, the personification of 20th century evil, was mentally ill or simply a man of the people. The answer, which emerges after a little more than 200 pages of heavy academic psycho-analysis, is long and complex and not that easy to interpret.

It's a fascinating book, even though it at times feels almost too heavy, with its super academic formulations and complicated use of the English language. Gonen shows how Hitler was a master of manipulations and interpreter of the desires of the people, skills that enable him to provide "new" ideas that were in actuality reflections of the great majority already believed in. The treaty in Versailles after World War I and the harsh conditions therein (combined with the fact that German politicians to the bitter end had continued lying to the people assuring them that victory was at hand), created a perfect breeding ground for Hitler and followers. Thus it's not entirely incorrect claiming that the "second" Thirty Years' War started when World War I started, not ending until the end of World War II.

One always causes controversy when saying that "sure, I admire Hitler", even though that has nothing to do with believing Nazi ideology to be a good and correct thing. In other words, of course it's possible to admire Hitler and his accomplishments while at the same time rejecting everything that the Nazis stand for. Because we can all agree upon the fact that he did something that few politicians are capable of; in no time at all turning a country in ruins into a superpower with millions and millions of fanatical inhabitants. His explanations as to why the Jews were the root of all evil made sense from the point of view that the people indeed believed him, and the multitude of ways the Nazi ideology permeated every aspect of German society is as fascinating as it is frightening.

If you want to learn more about how the Nazi era came into existence and how it became so large and influential, then Gonen's book is great tool. The war in itself isn't discussed very much, and he doesn't really bother discussing what's right and wrong, even though it's obvious that he's not a Nazi in any way. It's the ideology that's in focus here, along with how Hitler managed to create all those unlikely things that he nonetheless succeeded in. But it's also a useful book regarding the psychology of the majority of the people and large groups of people - how easy it is for a charismatic personality to persuade an unbelievably large number of people, despite the fact that for an outsider the whole thing remains utterly incomprehensible.

Rarely has the power of a strong leader (Hitler), combined with the power of the masses (the German Volk), had such devastating impact on the world. And with the continuous production of books such as The Roots of Nazi Psychology will mankind be armed with a very effective to for preventing something similar from ever happening again.